Jr. Pac-Man

Name:

Jr. Pac-Man

Company:

Atari

Model #:

CX-5251

Programmer:

GCC (General Computer Corp.)

Year:

1984

Released?

No

Notes:

Based on the 1983 Bally Midway
coin-op

First there was Pac-Man, and it was good. The video game generation
had finally found its mascot, and no one thought life could get any better.
Then there was Ms. Pac-Man, and players wondered how we got along
with only one maze and stationary bonus items for so long. Finally
there was Jr. Pac-Man and gamers were simply blown away...

Jr. Pac-Man was the natural sequel to Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man
(I hope she's Mrs. Pac-Man now), and as such expanded on the classic Pac-Man
formula. Jr. Pac-Man adds several new enhancements so it's no coincidence
that most people consider Jr. Pac-Man to be the ultimate Pac-Man game.

The first and most obvious enhancement is the scrolling
maze. Now mazes can fill several screens which leads to new patterns
and strategies. However since there is no radar in Jr. Pac-Man,
players need to remember which parts of the maze they've already cleared.
Thankfully the 5200 handles this scrolling beautifully with no
jerky motions.

The next major enhancement was the addition of giant
dots. Giant dots are actually made from normal dots after they
come in contact with a bonus prize. While the giant dots are worth
more points than regular dots, they slow Jr. down and make him more
vulnerable to the roaming ghost monsters. It's best to stop the
bonus prize before it makes too many giant dots or Jr. may find he doesn't
have the necessary speed to outrun a purusing ghost.

The last enhancement is the most deadly. Now roaming
prizes destroy power pellets when they come in contact with them! There's
nothing like running towards a power pellet with a gang of ghost monsters
in hot pursuit only to see it destroyed moments before you reach it.
It's best to grab prizes before they move too far or you may regret
it later.

Although conversions of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for the
5200 were average at best, Jr. Pac-Man really shines on the 5200. The
only thing missing from this version are the intermissions between levels,
which were probably cut due to space considerations. There is
also at least one major bug still in the game which causes power pellets
to remain on screen if the player dies while a prize is destroying it.
If this happens the game must be reset as the power pellet cannot
be eaten. However this bug is rarely encountered and usually doesn't
interfere with the game.

Jr. Pac-Man was actually developed for all three of Atari's
systems (2600, 400/800, and 5200), but only the 2600 version made it
out and only after being delayed for 3 years. Like most prototypes
from 1984, Jr. Pac-Man was canceled due to the Tramiel take over and
the collapsing video game market. So Jr. Pac-Man will remain one
of the best kept secrets of the prototype world.